Supercritical Brayton Power Conversion with a Direct Cooled Reactor for Space Power
- University of Wisconsin - Madison
To achieve future goals in space exploration a long life, compact power system will be necessary, and nuclear power sources are a promising option. The goal of this project is to achieve mass optimization with a supercritical Brayton Cycle coupled to a direct-cooled nuclear reactor. It is critical to minimize the total mass of this system because of space launch costs. The total mass involves both the components’ masses as well as the fuel mass which is related to system efficiency. This paper discusses a project in which a detailed reactor model is integrated with a carefully constructed cycle model in order to simultaneously optimize the design of these two aspects of the system. Component models are discussed as well as an initial optimization study. A robust, simple recuperated Brayton cycle model is complete and is in the process of integration with a developing reactor model. Preliminary observations of the cycle model have led to the conclusion that there will be an optimum point between a large recuperator and small reactor with high system efficiency, and a large reactor and small recuperator with low recuperator mass for any given radiater size. Once the reactor model is integrated into the cycle optimization, the tradeoffs between the sizes of the radiator, recuperator, and reactor will be further investigated and an optimum system mass will be apparent.
- Research Organization:
- University of Wisconsin - Madis
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- Contributing Organization:
- Creare, Sandia National Lab
- DOE Contract Number:
- NE0008679
- OSTI ID:
- 1440019
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-UW-08679-1
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 6th International sCO2 Power Cycles Symposium, Pittsburgh, PA, March 27-29, 2018
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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